By 2025, for every three tons of finfish swimming in the oceans, there could be one ton of plastic in marine waters as well.[12]

Plastic debris in the area popularly known as the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" has increased by 100 times in the past 40 years.[13] Scientists have calculated that 275 million metric tons (MT) of plastic waste was generated in 192 coastal countries in 2010, with 4.8 to 12.7 million MT entering the ocean. [14]

Researchers who analyzed sea salt sold in China found between 550 and 681 microplastics particles per kilogram of sea salt. [16]

Impacts to Marine Wildlife

50 to 80 percent of dead sea turtles have ingested plastic. Plastic bags, which resemble jellyfish, are the most commonly found item in sea turtles’ stomachs.[17]

Worldwide, 82 of 144 examined bird species contained plastic debris in their stomachs; and in some cases, 80 percent of the population had consumed plastic.[18] Researchers found that 66 percent of Giant Petrel shorebirds regurgitated plastic when feeding their chicks.[19]

Commercial fish, such as Opah and Bigeye Tuna, consume plastic,[20] which could significantly reduce global populations.[21] A University of Hawaii study reports “[i]n the two [Opah] species found in Hawaiian waters, 58 percent of the small-­‐eye opah and 43 percent of the big-­‐eye opah had ingested some kind of debris.”

Impacts of marine debris have been reported for 663 marine wildlife species. Over half of these reports documented entanglement in and ingestion of marine debris. Over 80% of the impacts were associated with plastic debris. [22][23]

Recent studies estimate that fish off the West Coast ingest over 12,000 tons of plastic a year.[24][25]

In Indonesia, anthropogenic (human caused) debris was found in 28% of individual fish and in 55% of all species. Similarly, in California, anthropogenic debris was found in 25% of individual fish and in 67% of all species. All of the anthropogenic debris recovered from fish in Indonesia was plastic, whereas anthropogenic debris recovered from fish in the USA was primarily fibers.[26]

Plastic Bags

Cleanup of plastic bags is costly. California spends an estimated $25 million annually to landfill discarded plastic bags, and public agencies spend more than $500 million annually in litter cleanup.[27][28]

It is estimated that Americans go through about 100 billion plastic bags a year, or about 360 bags per year for every man, woman and child in the country.[29][30]

Those 100 billion plastic bags, if tied together, would reach around the Earth’s equator 773 times![31]

Plastic Bottles

Producing the plastic bottles for American consumption of bottled water in 2006 required 3 liters of water to produce each 1 liter of bottled water. Production of these water bottles also required the equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of oil, not including the energy for transportation.[32]

49.4 billion plastic water bottles were sold in the United States in 2015.[33] The recycling rate for plastic bottles was only 31.1% which translates to roughly 34 billion plastic bottles that were littered or went into a landfill in 2015.[34]

For even more facts and figures - and solutions(!) see this Plastics Solutions Briefing Booklet prepared by Surfrider Foundation and UCLA’s Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic.

Footnotes

↑Thompson, R.C. “Plastics, the environment and human health: current consensus and future trends.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences. 364.1526 (2009):2153-2166.

↑Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel—GEF (2012). Impacts of Marine Debris on Biodiversity: Current Status and Potential Solutions, Montreal, Technical Series No. 67, 61 pages.